Time for a Truth Commission

WASHINGTON -- The partisan firefight over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi'sincendiary allegation that the CIA lied to Congress about its use of"enhanced interrogation techniques" -- torture -- is a blessing. It turnsthe compelling case for a public inquiry into the Bush administration'spolicies toward terrorism detainees into an urgent necessity. Americans must finally own up to what was done, at whose order, withwhose acquiescence, and why. The United States government must at last holdaccountable the architects of this calamity -- not only the underlings likeLynndie England and Charles Graner and Janet Karpinski, those frontlinemilitary personnel who paid the price for bit roles in the scandal afterthe first stomach-turning photos of abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison cameto light. This trio again comes to mind because even as the Pelosi furorescalated beyond all reason -- not to mention the known facts -- PresidentObama rescinded not one but two promises. He reneged on a commitment torelease more photographs of the horror at Abu Ghraib and at detention sitesin Afghanistan. The first pictorial chronicle of depravity at Abu Ghraibled to the congressional inquiries that eventually led us to understandthat the United States had implemented torture as official policy. And thatpolicy was not some half-baked idea cooked up by kids in the desert butdeveloped by lawyers and top administration officials in Washington.